Just a few of my thoughts on the world around me

Roomates

by crusader1240 on August 24, 2013

Now unless you’re a commuter or have your own apartment, roommates are something you’ll definitely deal with in college.

First, set down the boundaries for what goes on in your room. Do you want to share all your food? Clothes? Accessories? Really think about it. You may think it’s fine now, but what if you change your mind after a few months after your favorite shirt has a stain that you didn’t put there? Or maybe all your snacks are gone? Even if you decide to share, make sure you respect each other’s property.

How about who is in your room? Do you want to have an open door policy and let all their friends hang out in your room when you’re studying for your 8 a.m. exam? And if you do have friends and guests come, decide how late, how loud and how many beforehand.

It would be a good idea to get all these things down in writing (after you’ve worked through any problems and compromises) and if you want, sign it with a witness or two and treat it as a legal document. Hopefully you never have any problems with each other, but this is a good way to identify any problems that may happen in the future and prepare for how you handle them. Remember, you can always bring any problems you have to your RA, but it’s best to work it out between the two (or three) of you first.

Something that students tend to freak out about is if their bedtime or alarm may disturb their roommate. Obviously, you should do your best to not be overly annoying, but it is your room too and if you have 8 a.m. classes and they don’t start until 10, you need to be up and ready, so don’t let worrying about waking them up stop you from that.

Sorry for the haphazardness of today’s post. I’m actually taking a writing class so maybe I’ll get better at organizing my thoughts (ha!).